KongZhong's first quarter also showed the company's revenues decreased 48% from the same period in 2006 but increased 1% sequentially to US$9.22 million. Its WAP revenues in the first quarter of 2007 were US$4.40 million, a decrease of 50% from the same quarter of 2006 and a decrease of 9% sequentially.

     There was no cheer for comrade Hurray!, whose unaudited financial results for the first quarter still dipped, but exceeded guidance. It said total revenues hit US$16.6 million, a decline of 2.2% quarter-over-quarter and 0.9% year-over-year. Putting a good spin on the results, Chairman and CEO QD Wang said, "We are pleased to report a solid quarter which exceeded our previous estimate despite a challenging operating environment." Exceeding guidance is simple if you set very low standards for yourself.

     True, all these companies used to have high wireless revenue, but they all made it via illegal means by adding users without their consent to their services. About five years ago, I think I was the first person to publicly point this out, because the Chief Technical Officer at my company at the time was complaining that Sohu.com added him to their wireless service and he could find no way to get himself removed–Sohu.com was billing my friend each month for services we did not want, did not need, and could not end. Franz Kafka would have appreciated the nonsense endemic at Sohu.com. Seriously, it was a sign at the time of irresponsible business practices.

     Finally, a potential investor might say, "But surely eventually one of those fledgling WVAS companies in China will strike gold and make me billions of dollars!" I agree that if you are the founder of one of these companies, you might find someone more ignorant than you to buy your company–that is one way to cash out. But China Mobile and China Unicom are smart. Over the last few years, they graciously accepted third-party WVAS companies to use their networks to run various services. Then Mobile and Unicom co-opted those services as their own, leaving WVAS companies ruined and penniless. Look at the instant messaging sector: lots of WVAS companies crowded into the market to offer wireless IM services, but now both China Mobile and China Unicom have developed their own services which are better integrated into the services they provide. Therefore, the average mobile user in China is perhaps going to use Unicom or Mobile's services instead of a third-party's service. I see the same thing happening in wireless payments, mobile games, and mobile blogging.